The shadow enterprise minister claims many Scottish companies are losing out by not participating in the Small Business Bonus Scheme.

Gavin Brown believes not enough SMEs are taking advantage of the deal which replaced the Small Business Rates Relief Scheme.

The Conservative MSP said differing administrative practice between local authorities has made it more difficult for businesses to claim the rebate.

He said: "Business rate rebates was a deal breaker between the Conservatives and the Scottish government, and we insisted on this before agreeing to the budget last year. Rates being paid by small businesses was 46 per cent of the rateable value up to £8,000 under the old scheme.

"The 80 per cent rebate this year, followed by the 100 per cent bonus next year, was agreed in an effort to encourage the regeneration of our local high streets because these retail areas have suffered heavily over the last 10 years. The discount has to be applied for small businesses from each local authority, and Scotland's 32 local authorities administrate these discounts in their own way.

"Some local authorities are issuing the bonus rebates automatically, but many don't - although 90 per cent of the local authorities in Scotland we have surveyed have agreed to retroactively backdate these payments.

"Our research earlier this year showed that West Lothian and Angus were extremely proactive in their approach to issuing rebates, and Glasgow, East Renfrewshire, Renfrewshire and Aberdeen city councils were issuing the bonuses automatically.

"At the time, only Perth and Kinross council said they would deal with applications on a case by case basis, but they have since made moves to become more proactive in their approach."

The Scottish Federation of Small Businesses said there has been no official figures collated by the government to assess the number of companies taking advantage of the bonus scheme.

A government spokesman said: "The Scottish Government published around 210,000 leaflets about the scheme which were distributed to councils in February. An electronic copy of the leaflet has been published on the Scottish Government website.

"Some councils have told us that they intend writing individually to ratepayers who have not yet returned the application form.

"We understand councils are also considering other ways of promoting the scheme through council publications and newsletters."